Auckland University of Technology was founded in 1895, and transformed into a college in 1989. It was formerly known as Auckland Institute of Technology. In 2000, it was officially granted the status of a national university by the New Zealand government, thus becoming the eighth national university in New Zealand. It is known as the youngest and most dynamic university in New Zealand and the largest science and engineering university in New Zealand.

At present, the school's campus is in downtown Auckland (adjacent to the University of Auckland) and the North Shore. It is very difficult for new schools to have two campuses.

In the past, when AUT was a college, there were more than 10,000 students from various countries and regions in the world. So when it was upgraded to a university, it already had a considerable scale. Compared with the University of Auckland, it also provides another professional learning and education center for Auckland's million people.

The school has two campuses: Wellesley Campus in downtown Auckland and Akerange Akoranga Campus on the north coast of Auckland, which is only 10 km away from downtown Auckland. There is a shuttle bus between the two campuses to pick up students every 20 minutes. Auckland University of Technology currently has 25,000 students, including about 750 international students from 52 countries.

Auckland University of Technology has departments including liberal arts, business, health research, science and engineering, which can provide students with a variety of certificate and diploma courses to facilitate their employment, as well as bachelor's degree and master's degree courses. The university adopts small class teaching, with an average of 16 students in each class, so that every student can be well taken care of.